Sewing machine



2 Sheets-Sheet l A BATES SEWING MACHINE Flled Ju y 20, 1952 March M1 mm, A. BATES SEWING MACHINE Filed'July 20, 1932 2 sheets-'she t 2 Patented Mar. 10, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEWING MACHINE Application July 20, 1932, Serial No. 623,499 In Great Britain August 1, 1931 12 Claims.

This invention is concerned with sewing machines and methods of sewing by machine and is particularly, though not exclusively, concerned with curved hooked needle sewing machines especially as applied to the sewing of veldtschoen or other forms of footwear.

Some forms of shoes, and especially veldtschoen, are commonly sewn with two parallel rows of stitching extending through a projecting marginal sole portion of the shoe.

An object of the present invention is to provide, more effective means for producing two row sewing of the kind under consideration, and with this object in view one of the several features of the present invention. is a curved hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine comprising two needles, a single shuttle and appropriate other stitch forming instrumentalities cooperating to form in each stitch forming cycle of the machine one stitchof each of two parallel seams.

This feature of the invention as well as the.

from a consideration of the following illustrative description, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of additions and changes which may be made to a curved hooked needle stitching machine of the type described in the patent to French and Meyer No. 473,870 dated April 26, 1892, in adapt ing such a machine for producing two parallel lines of stitchingat the same time in accordance with the present invention and of convenient means for assisting in positioning the margin of shoe upper material for the stitching when applying such a machine to sewing veldtschoen in certain ways.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a curved hooked needle stitching machine embodying the additions and changes referred to; Fig. 2' is a front elevation of part of said machine; Fig. 3 is a detail view, to an enlarged scale, illustrating the action of a looper of said machine when placing the needle threads in the hooks of the needles; Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a shoe upper pulling device and part of its operating mechanism of said machine; Fig. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section of a further part of said operating mechanism; Fig. 6- is-a perspective view, partly in section illustrating the seam formed by the said machine; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the toe portion of a shoe illustrating the seam as it appears in a completed shoe.

In the illustrative case, the needle segment of the machine has fixed in it directly in front of the usual needle I a second similar needle 2. The needles which are concentric and in the same plane are spacedapart a distance accord- 5 ing to the desired distance apart of the lines of stitching, preferably about one-eighth of an inch and the point of the front needle is about three-sixteenths of an. inch above the point of the rear needle when the needles arepiercing 10 the work. By arranging the needles with the point of one in advance of the point of the other, as above described, the hooks of the two needles are substantially in the same horizontal plane v(see Fig. 3) when the looper 3, hereinafter described is laying the needle threads in the hooks of the needles. The needle guide 4 has in it two separate needle guiding holes and its operating cam is formed so that when the needle guide is moved forwardly and downwardly, it is moved to within about three-eighths of' an inchof the upper face of the work support 5', instead of within about eleven-sixteenths of an inch as is usual in machines of this type when arranged to form a single seam, so as 5 to adequately support the needles while they pierce the work, and to accurately position them for the looping of the threads round the needles.

The work support 5 has formed in it a second slot through which the front needle 2 passes. This second slot is in front of and parallel to the usual slot through which the rear needle 1 passes.

The awl segment has fixed in it directly in front of the usual awl 6 a second awl 1. The front awl is spaced from the rear awl a distance equal to the distance apart of the needles and the point of the front awl is about oneeighth of an inch below the point. of the rear awl when the awls are piercing the work so that 40 the rear awl enters the work before the front awl.

In this way the force required to drive the awls into the work is less than if they entered the work together and squeezing of material between the awls is minimized. It will be understood that the awls are concentric and in the same plane.

The looper 3 is operated to lay the needle threads in the hooks of the needles by mechanism similar to that shown in theaforementioned patent to French and Meyer. To enable the looper to handle two threads, it is provided with a second thread guiding hole 8 arranged in front of the usual thread guiding hole 9. The two thread guiding holes emerge from the upper ends of two small bosses l and H on the looper and the upper ends of these bosses are substantially in the same horizontal plane so that as they pass one in front of and partly round the front needle, and the other in front of and partly round the rear needle, and between the needles, they lay the needle thread in the hooks of the needles (see Fig. 3) which hooks are at this time in substantially the same horizontal plane as hereinbefore described.

The two needle threads pass forwardly from the thread supply at the rear of the machine round two tension devices 12 and [3, similar to the tension device referred to as t in the patent to French and Meyer, which are arranged one above the other. From the tension devices the two needle threads pass round a single pull off device [4 similar to the device referred to as I in the French and Meyer patent then to two thread clamping devices l5, l6 similar to the clamping device referred to as h in the patent and then round two identical auxiliary take-ups I! and 18. The thread clamping devices, although each is similar to that referred to in the patent are in this case operated by a single cam lever l9, similar to the lever referred to as h in the patent which is connected by a link 20 similar to the link h referred to in the patent, to an arm 2! fixed on a shaft 2'2. Also fixed on the shaft 22 is an arm similar to the arm referred to as h in the patent and having in it a notch which is engaged by a tooth on the thread clamping lever of the clamping device l6 as in the patent. The arm 2| has extending from it two lugs 23, 24 one at each side of an arm 25 extending from a sleeve 26 pivoted on the shaft 22. The lug 23 has adjustably threaded through it a screw 21 and between the arm 25 and lug 24 is a spring 28 which'holds the arm 25 against the screw 21. The sleeve 26 has extending from it a notched arm which engages a tooth on the clamping lever of the clamping device l5; By this means both thread clamping devices are operated by the single cam lever l9, but may be relatively adjusted by means of the screw 2'! and both may be adjusted together by means of the adjustment of the link 20.

.looper 3 hereinbefore described. The machine has a single thread hook or holder 32 similar to the thread holder referred to as n in the patent,

a single thread finger or lifter 33 similar to the thread lifter referred to as m in the patent, and

.a single shuttle 34 similar to the shuttle referred to as D in the patent.

The relative movements of the thread handling elements of a machine thus organized to produce two parallel lines of stitching are sub-'- stantially the same as those described in the French and Meyer patent, the two needle threads being laid in the hooks of the needles and two needle thread loops being drawn up through the work together. The two loops are taken off the needle hooks by the single thread finger 33 and The auxiliary take-ups are arranged side by side and are both substantially similar to the the two loops are passed at the same time round the shuttle 34 and the two loops are drawn down by the single take-up 3| with the shuttle thread passing through them. When a length of stitching has been completed, the needle thread lengths that appear on what is the under surface of the work when the latter is being stitched (i. e. the rand portion that is visible in wear in the case of veldtschoen) as two parallel rows of stitching 35, 36 (Figures 6 and 7) of conventional appearance while the shuttle thread appears on the upper surface of the work when being sewn (the lower surface in wear) as a zig-zag line of stitching the thread lengths 3! that lie on the surface of the work where they extend from the rear needle hole of one pair of holes to the front needle hole of the next pair of holes being oblique to the edge of the work and being joined by shuttle thread lengths 38 (lying on the surface of the work or drawn somewhat thereinto) that extend substantially perpendicularly to the edge of the work (i. e. from one to the other needle hole of a pair made in the same stitch forming cycle of the machine). This unconventional appearance of the seam on what will be the lower surface of the shoe in wear is wholly immaterial where as is common with some classes of veldtschoen the stitched shoe has a wearing tread surface (as for instance of crepe rubber) cemented thereto subsequently to the stitching. If it be desired to use a machine having the characteristics as above described for lasting- (more or less) and stitching sandals or veldtschoen in which an upper and a sole are assembled on a last and the outturned margin of the upper, and it may be a rand, is stitched to the margin of the sole, the right-hand end face, viewing the machine from the front, of the work support 5 is preferably made vertical, as shown in Figure 2, and as close as possible to the righthand end of the needle slots and the metal of the support behind the rearward of the slots and in front of .the forward one of the slots is as thin as possible and the machine provided with a device 39 for bedding the upper into the angle or crease between the sole margin and the last (and if desired supplying a rand strip there) substantially similar'to and operated in the same manner as the device shown in the patent to Ricks No. 1,321,148 dated November 11, 1919. The machine is also preferably provided with a sole straightening tool 40 such as is disclosed in said Ricks patent.

The machine when adapted for lasting and stitching sandals'or veldtschoen as referred to may have pincers of the kind referred to in the specifications last mentioned or may, for some classes of work, be provided with simpler means by which the upper may be intermittently pulled to its last and over the work support just before the awls enter the work and the feed takes place. Such means may conveniently comprise a foot 4| (Figure 4) having on its upper surface teeth which are adapted to engage the margin of upper in the angle or crease formed between the sole margin and the last. The foot engages the margin of the upper between the right hand end'of the work support 5 and the left hand end of the bedding member 39, hereinbefore referred to, and is moved first upwardly to engage the upper and press it against the sole margin then rearwardly to pull the upper frictionally over the sole margin snugly to the last then downwardly away from the upper and finally forwardly. When the foot is pressed up against the margin of the upper and after it has pulled the upper, the awls enter the work and the feed takes place, the foot moving with the awls in their feeding movement and assisting the awls in feeding the work. When the foot is moved upwardly into engagement with the upper, it is given a component of forward movement so that it enters well into the angle or crease between the sole margin and the last. The foot is preferably formed on or fixed to the forward end of an upwardly and rearwardly extending lever 42. The lever 42 about midway of its length and therefore above and behind the foot is pivoted to the upper end of a substantially-vertical link 43 by a pivot 44 extending across the machine. The vertical link 45 is pivoted at its lower end to the feed slide 45 of the machine on an eccentric portion of a horizontal adjustable pivot 45 extending across the machine. The rear end of the lever 42 is connected by a downwardly and rearwardly extending link 4! to a rearwardly extending link 48. The said downwardly and rearwardly extending link 41 is connected both to the rear end of the lever 52 and to the rearwardly extending link 48 by ball connections 49, 50. The rearwardly extending link 48 is connected at its forward end to the vertical link 43 by a ball connection 51 and at its rear end is connected by a universal coupling 52 to the lower end of a substantially vertical cam member 53. The cam member 53 at its upper end has formed in it a square opening 54 which surrounds a cam 55 on the cam shaft 55 of the machine. The cam member 53 has pivoted to it, near its lower end but just above the universal connection 52 hereinbefore referred to, the forward end of a rearwardly extending rod. 51. The rod 51' near its rear end is reduced in diameter and is slidingly mounted in a sleeve 58 threaded through a block 59 which is pivoted at 65 to a member 5i fixed on a horizontal shaft 62 extending across the machine. The rod at its rear end has on it an adjustable nut 63 and between this nut and the rear end of the sleeve 58 the rod has on it a spring 64 which holds a shoulder 65 on the rod against the front end of the sleeve 58. By adjustment of the sleeve 58 the foot 4i may be adjusted forwardly or rearwardly and the sleeve may be locked in adjusted position by a nut 10 on the sleeve. As the cam member 53 is moved down by its cam, the rear end of the horizontal link 48 is moved down about its ball connection 5| to the vertical foot-lever-carrying link 53 and moves down the rear end of the foot lever 42. The foot 4| at the front end of the lever 42 is moved upwardly into engagement with the margin of the upper and as it moves upwardly it also, owing to the position of its pivot, moves forwardly so that it enters well into the angle or crease between the projecting sole margin and last. As the upper end of the cam member 53 is moved forwardly by continued rotation of the cam 55, its lower end swings rearwardly about the pivotal connection of the cam member 53 and the rearwardly extending rod 57 and through the rearwardly extending horizontal link 58 swings the vertical foot-lever-carrying link 43 rearwardly about its pivotal connection to the feed slide 45 to cause the foot 4! to pull the upper. During continued rotation of the cam 55 the foot is moved downwardly and then forwardly. Means is provided whereby the amount of rearward upper pulling movement imparted to the foot 44 may be varied.

This means comprises a bar' 66 mounted on the feed'slide 45 so as to be adjustable forwardlyand rearwardly of the machine. The bar passes rearwardly across the left-hand side of the vertical link and has at its rear end a lateral extension 5'! which passes behind the vertical link 43. The front end of the bar has threaded into it a horizontal rearwardly extending adjusting screw 63 which is prevented from endwise movement by a plate 55 fixed to the feed slide 45 and entering a groove on the screw formed between the head of the screw and a flange on the screw. If the bar 55 is so adjusted that the foot 4! does not receive the full rearward or upper pulling movement which could be imparted to it by the cam 55, the vertical link '53, during its rearward movement, is engaged and stopped by the lateral extension 61 on the bar 65 and thereafter the cam member 53 swings about the now stationary universal coupling 52 between the rear end of the horizontal link 48 and the cam member 03 and the spring 64 yields.

Certain features of the machine herein disclosed relating more particularly to the lasting devices of the machine form the subject-matter of divisional application Serial No. 24,535, filed June 1, 1935.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated, and an embodiment of the several features of the invention having been specifically described, what is claimed is:

i. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two hooked needles and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

2. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two curved hooked needles mounted concentrically, and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

3. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two curved hooked needles mounted concentrically in the same plane, and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

4. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two curved hooked needles mounted concentrically and arranged to enter the work successively, a single looper arranged to thread the two needles simultaneously with separate threads and. a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

5. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two concentrically mounted curved hooked needles, a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams, and two concentrically mounted curved awls arranged to pierce the work successively for the passage of the respective needles.

6. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two hooked needles, a single looper arranged to thread each needle with a separate thread, and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel scams.

7. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two curved hooked needles mounted concentrically in the same plane, a single looper arranged to thread the two needles simultaneously with separate threads, and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

8. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two curved hooked needles, a single looper arranged to thread each needle with a separate thread, a single thread hook arranged to act on the threads between the looper and the work, and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

9. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming devices cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams, said devices comprising two curved hooked needles, a single shuttle, and a single thread lifter arranged to lift both needle loops into a position to be engaged by the shuttle.

10. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination, two hooked needles, 2. single shuttle, take-up mechanism acting to pull the needle loops from the shuttle into the work, two thread clamps arranged respectively to clamp the respective threads while the needle loops are being pulled into the work, a cam shaft and suitable connections for actuating said thread clamps simultaneously, said connections having provision for relative adjustment of the clamps.

11. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two hooked needles, a single looper arranged to thread the two needles simultaneously with separate threads, and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

12. A hooked needle lockstitch sewing machine having, in combination with the other stitch forming devices, two curved hooked needles mounted concentrically, a single looper arranged to thread the two needles simultaneously with separate threads, and a single shuttle cooperating during each stitch forming cycle of the machine to form one stitch of each of two parallel seams.

ARTHUR BATES. 

